The Message
by FaithinBones
Summary: This is a Halloween story that takes place in season 10. Booth finds a tape recorder in his grandfather's belongings along with four cassettes.
1. Chapter 1

(The Corpse at the Convention)

A/N: This is a Halloween story. I hope you enjoy it.

I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooo

Much to Booth's sorrow and regret, his grandfather had died while he was in prison and he'd been denied the right to attend Hank's funeral. He had grieved for the loss of the man he had considered his father, but it hadn't been until after he got out of prison and the man who had arranged to have him attacked in his home had been arrested that he was able to go to his grandfather's grave site and pay his respects. Hank's headstone was located next to his wife's headstone and Booth had noticed that Brennan had made sure the stones matched.

Distressed, Booth had stood in front of the stones for a long time. He had cried and talked to both his grandfather and grandmother telling them what had happened since Hank had died and that they shouldn't worry about him. He had asked Hank to forgive him for not being at the hospital when the old man had died and he hoped that Hank would consider it.

Silently standing by Booth while he visited his deceased grandparents, Brennan had held a bouquet of flowers in her arms and waited until her husband was ready to place them in the urns next to the stones. Once he was calmer, he had taken the bouquet, kissed Brennan on the cheek, knelt next to the urns and divided the flowers so both grandparents had a colorful spray of flowers in their urns.

Reluctantly, Booth had finally stood up, nodded his head at Brennan and pointed at their car in the distance. "You did a great job, Bones. The stone matches Grandma's stone and I liked how you had his military history chiseled in the bottom of his stone. He'd have loved that. He was so proud that he had served in the Army . . . He volunteered. He wasn't drafted. He served in Korea . . . the politicians and historians keep calling it a police action but that's just bullshit. Our soldiers died over there fighting that war, a lot of United Nation soldiers died in that war too . . . it was a war. Calling it a police action makes it seem like they were over there to give out parking tickets . . . men died."

"Yes, I know and you're welcome, Booth. I wanted anyone that saw the stone to know that he had served in the Army." Her arm hooked around her partner's arm Brennan walked with him back to the parking lot. "I have some of Hank's possessions in the garage. I kept some of his personal items just in case you wanted them. We can always give them to the Salvation Army if you don't want to keep them."

"Thanks, Bones. I don't know what I would have done, if you hadn't been here to take care of things." Booth knew that his wife had loved his grandfather and she had mourned for his passing too. "You did a great job with everything."

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

There were several cardboard boxes piled on one of the shelves along the back wall in the garage. Each box had the name 'Hank' printed on them in neat black letters. Not sure if he was up to the task, Booth decided that he'd have to look at the items sooner or later and it might as well be now. One box contained old books and that made him smile. He knew that his grandfather loved books and when he had moved to the retirement home, there were certain books he couldn't give away. He also knew that if he told Brennan he was going to get rid of the books, she'd find a way to keep them. _You can't get rid of books, Booth. _That was a never ending argument between them.

The next box contained several afghans that his grandmother had knitted and there would be no way he could give those away to strangers. He'd make sure that Parker got one, Christine had one and he'd ask Jared if he wanted one. He planned to keep the other three and place them in his bedroom on the top shelf of the closet.

That box taken care of, he moved on to the next box. Looking inside he found a variety of items including a tape recorder and a box of cassettes. Curious, he carried the cassette player over to the work bench, sat down on the stool and plugged the player into an electrical outlet. Moving his index finger over the backs of the cassettes, he pulled out the one on the far left and checked the date printed on the side. "October 13, 2008". Inserting the tape into the player, he hit the play button and heard his grandfather begin to speak.

"_My doctor said I should record these because my speech got a little slurred after my heart attack. This is supposed to help me speak clearer, use it or lose it, I guess. Anyway, I don't know what I'm going to say on this thing, but I guess it doesn't matter . . . What? . . . Okay. I'll talk about you. I remember the first time I met you . . . Ha, I'm old but I'm not senile . . . What? . . . I am speaking loudly. I'm not muttering . . . Sit closer if you can't hear me . . . Okay, anyway, you were the prettiest girl in school. I was afraid to talk to you my freshman year in High School. You seemed to be popular . . . anyway, over the summer I'd walk by your house and try to buck up the courage to knock on the door and talk to you and one day I saw you sitting on the porch crying . . . Yeah, that was a sad day for you. Your grandmother had died and you didn't get to say goodbye . . . I walked up the steps and sat down beside you and I didn't say anything . . . because I didn't know what to say . . . anyway, after a while you stopped crying and turned to me and you thanked me because you didn't want to be alone . . . I guess after that, asking you out didn't seem to be too hard . . . Yeah, boys can be weird . . . I waited . . . I waited, I didn't ask you out for a month . . . okay, I waited three weeks which is close to a month . . . Aren't I supposed to be talking and not you? . . . Thank you . . . Well, I think I'm done talking for the day . . . Sure, it's enough . . . what do you mean I need to talk more . . . about what? Anything? Okay, fine . . . my mother made the best spaghetti sauce and I'm going give you the recipe . . . I know your sauce is good . . . no, I'm not telling you my mother's sauce was better . . . Hey you said talk about anything and I am . . . Now you want me to shut up? Fine."_

Booth didn't know who his grandfather was talking to, but he knew it couldn't be his grandmother. She had died back in 1982, so his Pops must have been talking to an old girlfriend. He knew his grandfather was a player after his grandmother died, so maybe he met an old girlfriend and dated her. Turning the tape player off, Booth removed the cassette from the slot, put it in its plastic case and placed the case back in the box. Feeling sad, he decided not to look in the other two boxes on the shelves for now and left the garage.

"Did you find anything interesting?" Brennan was helping Christine make a peanut butter sandwich.

"I found some cassettes and a cassette player." Booth grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, opened it and drank some of the cold water. "I guess he was having speech problems after his heart attack. He didn't really talk that much to me after his heart attack, but I didn't notice anything off when he did talk to me. He was kind of mad about having the attack and he kind of took it out on me for a week or two, but that was okay. I didn't mind. He recorded himself speaking . . . I listened to one of them. There are three more and I want to listen to them."

It seemed that listening to the tape had made Booth sadder than he had been earlier that day, but Brennan wouldn't dream of recommending that he not listen to the tapes. She knew her husband needed to hear his grandfather speak and it might help him accept Hank's death. "Alright."

Moving into the living room, Booth grabbed a photo album from the bookshelf near the jukebox, carried it over to the couch and sat down. The album had belonged to his grandfather and he wanted to see if there were any pictures of Pop's high school sweethearts in the album.

Oooooooooooooooooo

Let me know what you think of my story so far.


	2. Chapter 2

(The Corpse at the Convention)

Thank you for reviewing my story. I appreciate it.

I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooo

A little frustrated, Booth had looked through his grandfather's photo albums and hadn't found any pictures of any teenage girls that Hank might have dated besides his grandmother. "I don't get it Bones, I've looked through all of Pop's pictures and the only young girl in the albums besides my Aunt Ruth and some other relatives is my grandmother. Pops was talking in the first tape to someone and he said she was the prettiest girl in high school and he talked about asking her out. He was talking to someone, but damned if I know who it was. After my grandmother died, he didn't really date until after Jared and me graduated and we were out of the house. I guess he didn't want to bring strangers into the house . . . Jared and me were a little shy . . . we didn't like strangers when we were little kids."

"Perhaps your grandmother didn't want him to keep pictures of girls he had dated in high school." Brennan thought Booth was making a mole hill out of a mountain. _That doesn't sound right . . . oh well._ Just because you don't see any pictures of past girlfriends, doesn't mean they don't exist. You did say you heard him talking to someone on the tape . . . I wouldn't worry about it. It doesn't seem very important to me."

"I'm not worried about it, I'm just curious." Sliding the albums back on the shelf, Booth shoved his hands in his pants pockets. "Adults have secret lives."

Amused, Brennan looked up from the game of checkers she was playing with her daughter and laughed. "I supposed that's true."

"It's something Pops said to me a long time ago." Fingering his poker chip, he removed it from his pants pocket and looked at it. "He told me that we never really know our parents because there are some things that they don't think is their children's business. I don't know what we were talking about at the time, but I remembered him saying that."

"Well, he wasn't wrong." Practical, Brennan knew that there were things she would never tell her child. Things like being buried alive and almost dying would just scare her daughter and she didn't want Christine to be a fearful child.

The poker chip reminded him of some secrets in his past that he hated to talk about. "No, he wasn't . . . I think I'm going to go and listen to another cassette. It's still early."

Once he was in the garage, Booth sat down on the stool, removed the second cassette from the box and placed it in the tape player. His index finger on the play button, he exhaled deeply, slowly released the air in his lungs and pressed play.

_I don't see why I have to do this. My speech is fine . . . Dr. Holden is a worrier. He probably wears suspenders and a belt under that white coat of his. God forbid he wouldn't want his pants to fall down to his ankles . . . I'm talking, aren't I? I mean this is talking . . . Alright, what do you want me to talk about . . . Seeley is fine. He took care of me while I was in the hospital and he helped me move into this retirement home . . . He did the best thing for me, I know that . . . Our house was just too big for me to take care of anymore . . . I miss cooking, but that's okay, I don't miss washing the dishes. I should have bought that dishwasher you wanted, but it never seemed to be worth it."_

After stopping the tape, Booth stared at the tape player for a few seconds, rewound a bit of the tape and listed to the last couple of sentences.

_Our house was just too big for me to take care of anymore . . . I miss cooking, but that's okay, I don't miss washing the dishes. __I should have bought that dishwasher you wanted, but it never seemed to be worth it._

"What the hell? Who the hell are you talking to Pops?" Now Booth was worried. Did his grandfather suffer some brain damage when he had his heart attack? "Our house? That dishwasher you wanted? Fuck!" He never noticed his grandfather acting oddly or talking strangely to him when he'd seen him after the heart attack and yet it appeared he was talking to his grandmother on the tape. "Did I miss something? Did Pops need help and I didn't get him any? Maybe this was just temporary . . . He . . . He seemed okay to me . . . Damn it!"

Not sure what else to do, he turned the tape player back on and listened.

_I'm not worried about Seeley, but I will tell you who I am worried about. Jared worries me. He was kicked out of the Navy and he really hasn't settled into a real job since then. He's traveling around India right now. I don't know why . . . He needs to come home, find a job and get his life in order . . . I guess . . . Yeah, he saved Seeley's life and I'll always be grateful to him for that, but he's screwing up his life now. He needs . . . Yeah, alright. You're right. It's his life and he has to live it. I just hope he starts living it soon because to me, he's just going through the motions . . . Seeley brought Parker to see me last weekend. That boy is growing like a weed. He might end up being as tall as his father, we'll see. I think he looks more like his mother than Seeley . . . Parker won a prize in his English class for a poem he wrote. His teacher gave him a pen that writes in black, blue or red ink. The boy seems to love that pen . . . Well, I don't blame him, it is a pretty good pen . . . Have I talked enough? Good."_

Stopping the tape player, Booth removed the cassette, placed it in the case and back in the box. "Is he talking to my grandmother in his tapes? She's dead, she was dead in 2008 . . . I . . . I don't know what to think about this." Moving from the stool, Booth walked back into the house, forced himself to smile at his wife and child as he passed them, walked down the hall to his bedroom and got ready to take a bath. He was upset, he knew he was upset and he hoped that a hot bath might help him to relax.

Ooooooooooooooo

She found him in the bathtub, leaning against the back of the tub with his eyes closed. He looked exhausted and Brennan was worried that his peace of mind was being destroyed listening to his grandfather on the tapes. He was still recovering from the abuse he had suffered in prison and his lack of trust in anyone wasn't helping the situation. His grandfather was dead, Sweets was dead and the FBI had let him down in a way that had shattered his confidence in his profession. She wasn't sure how she could help him, but she needed to do something.

"What's wrong, Booth? You seem to be upset?" She closed the lid on the toilet and sat down. "Did you hear something on the tapes that has upset you?"

"Yeah . . . When Pops made those tapes, he might have been talking to my grandmother . . . my dead grandmother . . . Did I miss something? I thought Pops had been fine, but now I'm not so sure. I dumped him into a retirement home. I didn't see him very often. I failed Pops, Bones, I failed him."

Annoyed, Brennan held up her hand. "Stop it, Booth. You didn't dump Hank into a retirement home. He needed assistance and the retirement home gave him independence when he wanted it and help when he needed it. He agreed to the move and he seemed to like living there. He had friends his age to talk to and to . . ." She smiled. "To crotchet with."

If she had hoped he would return the smile, then she was disappointed. Booth was not happy and he couldn't forgive himself for not seeing his grandfather was in trouble all those years ago. "If he was talking to my grandmother then he wasn't getting the assistance he needed. I'm going to call Dr. Holden on Monday. I'm going to ask him if he and Pops were hiding something from me."

"Alright, but Booth . . . Hank has passed away. This happened in 2008 and he never mentioned talking to his wife when I met him in 2009. Of course, it was over a year after he made these tapes so if he was talking to his wife in 2008, he might have stopped by 2009." Brennan wanted Booth to let this go. Hank was dead and the past needed to stay in the past. He had too much to deal with and these tapes from his grandfather wasn't helping him at all.

"Pops seemed okay after he left the hospital. He had some therapy because his right leg kind of dragged a little, but after therapy he walked fine, slow, but fine." Trying to remember what was going on at that time, Booth shook his head. "I tried to see him as much as I could and he seemed to be okay, but I guess he wasn't. Then I had the brain tumor and I was messed up for quite a while . . . I . . . Maybe it was only temporary. There are two more tapes. Maybe he got better and I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill."

_Oh, that's the saying. _"Would you like me to listen with you? Maybe you shouldn't be listening to the tapes by yourself."

Leaning forward, Booth closed his eyes and tried to put his thoughts in order for a few seconds. "If you want to . . . I'm going to listen to both of them tomorrow. I can't handle anymore tonight."

"Alright. We'll wait until it's time for Christine to take her nap and we'll listen to them together." There was no way that she would allow Booth to listen to those tapes by himself. Something was going on and there had to be a logical explanation. Hank was not suffering from dementia when she met him, so whatever Booth was hearing in the tapes must have been temporary.

Ooooooooooooooooo

Let me know what you think of my story. Thanks.


	3. Chapter 3

(The Corpse at the Convention)

Thank you for reviewing my story. I appreciate it.

I don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooooo

He'd had a restless night and Sunday morning seemed to be dragging along. Booth was both anxious to hear the tapes his grandfather had recorded and dreading to hear what his grandfather said on them. He didn't think Brennan sitting next to him was going to help, but it wouldn't hurt either. Maybe that logical brain of hers could process what Hank was doing better than he could. At least he hoped so.

At the moment he was feeling guilty for placing his grandfather in a retirement home. There weren't many good options at the time, but he supposed he should have taken a sabbatical from the FBI until his grandfather was better. His grandfather had been the one to suggest it was time to sell his house and move into an assisted living residence and Booth had made that happen as quickly as possible. Now he was wondering if he'd jumped too quickly. Did he do it for Pops or for himself? He didn't know and that worried him.

With Christine taking a nap in her room, Booth went out to the garage and brought in the tape player and the box of cassettes. Once Brennan was sitting on the couch, he plugged the tape player into the electrical outlet next to the fireplace and placed it on hearth. "This is the third tape." After hitting the play button, he sat down on the chair near the fireplace, leaned forward and listened to his grandfather speak from the past.

_I think this thing is on . . . yeah, the wheels are going around so it has to be . . . Okay this is me, Hank Joseph Booth talking into a tape recorder so my doctor will get off my back . . . My speech isn't slurred . . . Well it isn't now, is it? Exactly, so I don't see why I have to do this . . . okay, whatever . . . Yes, Edwin came by to see me yesterday. He's not looking well, but you know why. I wish we had known about PTSD when he came back from Vietnam. Maybe we could have got him some help . . . He really loved to fly and when he was shot down . . . well his injuries were bad and the Air Force had to give him a medical discharge . . . he never got over that . . . I don't want to talk about Edwin. We've talked about him and talked about him and nothing changes . . . I'm not mad, I'm just saying I don't want to talk about Edwin . . . Hey, remember that time we drove to Niagara Falls? You wanted to see the water falling and we did. It was pretty impressive, especially since it was winter and there was this ice all over everything and there were huge icicles and the steam from the water made it foggy and kind of creepy. I took a lot of pictures and the boy at the photomat ruined them . . . That kid needed to be fired . . . well, he ruined my pictures . . . whatever . . . Hey, remember that time Seeley and Jared were at the house and we made chocolate ice cream and those boys had a lot of fun. They'd never seen ice cream made from a hank cranked ice cream machine. They really loved it. After you were gone, we made some a few times every summer. Seeley didn't mind cranking the machine when I got tired . . . I miss you. I wish you hadn't left me behind. Not a day goes by I don't think about you . . . I don't know why you're here, but I love that you came to see about me . . . I love you too, Marie . . . I will always love you . . ."_

There was silence on the tape, Hank had stopped talking and Booth turned off the tape player. "Well?"

"I don't know Booth." She had listened to the tape and now she was trying to process what she had heard. "It's common for people over the age of 65 to have complications after heart attacks. Up to 60% of those who have certain surgeries develop delirium. It can last for weeks. Hank moved into an assisted living home four weeks after his hospitalization. I'm sure you would have mentioned this behavior to Hank's surgeon if you had noticed this was happening."

"Of course, I would have." Booth ran his shaking hand through his hair. "I . . . I didn't hear him talking to my grandmother when I was taking care of him. Not in the hospital and not when he was in my apartment. He was slow and his right leg was dragging but he had therapy for that and the therapist didn't notice anything else was wrong. Pops didn't really talk to me too much while he was with me, but he's like that when he's sick. He doesn't like people hovering over him when he's sick . . . I had a hard time getting him to eat after his surgery, but after a couple of weeks, he was eating properly . . . I should have made sure he was okay. I should have noticed that something was wrong."

Moving over to the chair that her husband was sitting in, Brennan knelt in front of him and placed her hands on his knees. "Booth . . . I need you to be rational. While he was in the hospital he didn't show in any signs he was in distress. The nurses would have noticed. They're trained to notice things like that and Hank wasn't talking irrationally when he was living with you. If he wasn't showing any signs then how are you responsible? . . . Obviously this didn't last too long or someone at the assisted living home would have noticed."

His hands now covering her hands, Booth stared into her bright blue eyes. "Maybe . . . Do you want to listen to the fourth tape?"

"Of course." Standing Brennan moved over to where the tape player was laying, replaced the third cassette with the final one and hit play. Sitting on the coffee table, she kept her eyes on Booth hoping this final tape wasn't too upsetting.

_Seeley, I know you're upset listening to these tapes, but you shouldn't be. Your grandfather needed encouragement after his heart attack and I had to help him._

Stunned, Booth stared at Brennan, his eyes open wide, a look of fear and confusion on his face.

_He wanted to give up, Seeley. He wanted to join me, but it wasn't his time. Not yet. He wouldn't talk to you or his surgeon. He was isolating himself and he wasn't eating. I had to give him hope. I had to let him see that he had more life to live. Don't be upset with me. I did it for Hank. Now he is here with me and all is well. He's fine . . . we're fine. Someday we'll all be together, in the meantime, live your life, love your family and believe in yourself. I'm sorry bad things happened to you, but you're strong and you will get through this. Give people a chance, Seeley. Learn to trust again . . . I love you my dear sweet boy. I will always love you._

The room was silent. Unsure what was happening, Brennan turned the tape player off and turned so she faced Booth. "Who was that?"

"That was my grandmother . . . my dead grandmother." Exhaling deeply, Booth was suddenly calm. "That was . . . amazing." His grandfather had needed help and that help had come in the form of his grandmother. This was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to him and it made him feel happy that his grandmother had found a way to talk to him.

A chill running down her spine, Brennan licked her bottom lip and tried to understand what was going on. "There is no such thing as ghosts, Booth. That wasn't your grandmother on the tape. That would be impossible." Rewinding the tape, Brennan hit the play button only to listen to static and white noise while the tape steadily wound around the wheels. The message that they had heard was no longer on the tape. "This is impossible. There is no such thing as ghosts." She didn't know what the explanation was, but she was certain that there was no after life. Someone was playing a trick on them. She wasn't sure why, but it was the only possible explanation.

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth smiled. "Not a ghost, Bones . . . An angel . . . Pops is okay . . . Pops is okay and I'm going to be too."

She had no explanation for what was going on, but the happy look on her husband's face stopped her from speaking further on the matter. Brennan didn't know what had happened, but she would leave it alone. Sometimes a mystery had to stay a mystery.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

Let me know what you thought of my story. Thank you and Happy Halloween.

A/N: if you would like to read another Halloween story written by me, I posted one past year, 'Stop'.


End file.
